


A Reminder

by ChemFishee



Category: (500) Days of Summer (2009), Inception (2010)
Genre: 2010 Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-06
Updated: 2013-10-06
Packaged: 2017-12-28 13:52:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/992720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChemFishee/pseuds/ChemFishee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When she calls with the news, Arthur lets out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.<br/>(September 2010)</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Reminder

**Author's Note:**

> Title courtesy of the Radiohead song of the same name.  
> (Comment!Fic originally posted [here](http://chemfishee.livejournal.com/187830.html?thread=2366902#t2366902).)

In Chicago, Arthur studies architecture. He signs his drawings with his real name. He watches Michigan Avenue stain itself gold and pink in the falling twilight, alone in the observation lounge on the 95th floor of the Hancock Building. He eats mass-produced authentic pizza until his pants sit uncomfortably tight around his newly-convexing middle.  
  
He compiles a portfolio. He submits it to firms scattered around the city. He waits.  
  
The first call comes three weeks later, a minor two-partner affair. The receptionist muddies the vowels in his name, stretching them into a foreign shape he has no words for.  
  
When he steps off the elevator at week’s end, she is waiting for him. “Are you Thomas?”  
  
“Call me Arthur.”  
  
She lifts an eyebrow. “Very well, Arthur. Mr. Palmer will be with you shortly.”  
  
He watches her answer calls with a practiced, calculated efficiency for what feels like hours. In actuality, it’s not more than a few minutes. “They’re ready for you.”  
  
He collects his sketches off her desk. “Oh, and Arthur?” She touches the tie constricting his throat, making it hard to swallow. She centers the knot and smoothes down the cheap silk/polyester blend. “Good luck in there.”  
  
It doesn’t work out.  
  
When she calls with the news, Arthur lets out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “Would you like to go to dinner with me sometime?”  
  
She laughs, small and startled. “Is that how you always react to not getting a job?”  
  
Arthur shakes his head before realizing she’s not there to see it. “That wasn’t the right place for me.” There’s another laugh.  
  
“What would be the right place for you?”  
  
“Truthfully, I don’t know. I could always do something like write greeting cards.” She _hmmm_ s a response. “I didn’t catch your name.”  
  
“I’m Mal.”  
  
“Mal. Well, Mal, let me take you to dinner to celebrate dodging bullets.”  
  
His grin spreads easily as she wrestles with capitulating. “Yes. Alright.”


End file.
